


Impatience

by Oryx_Gazella



Category: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (Short Film)
Genre: DHMIS, F/M, Padlock, codename: ice hell, project 'make them kill each other 5ever' in effect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-30
Updated: 2014-01-30
Packaged: 2018-01-10 12:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1159835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oryx_Gazella/pseuds/Oryx_Gazella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He always has to wait for her to start a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Impatience

**Author's Note:**

> i had to watch a video of a deer being field dressed for this i hope you're all happy. also warning, this has similarities to a video of a deer being field dressed watch out 4 gross bloodgore  
> also im still not good at this i think i like writing paige better than tony. i tried  
> but also i have a headcanon that tony is 400% more aggressive when it comes to fights but paige is way more cruel  
> ps. im sorry i used the word 'surreptitiously' it just means to be sneaky i figured tony would talk like a pretentious asshole a lot also i've wanted a good reason to use that word for like 8 years now  
> pps. im know im a big dumb weirdo and i got so nervous posting this i am a fragile baby bird

So far there were no harsh words, no slammed doors, and no violent retributions. But she was angry. She was _furious_. Paige had woken up from death without incident, chewed off the rope, and dragged herself out of the rat-infested crawlspace under the porch he had stuffed her body into. That situation, he presumed, wasn’t what she was upset about. It was more likely that she was upset about _how_ he had killed her. Maybe tampering with her stashed knives was unfair, maybe he shouldn’t have taunted her. But time didn’t move backwards, and he couldn’t change anything now.

  
Paige hadn’t been around the house much for the past two days or so; she was staying in her room, working on sculpture or stabbing - both were equally likely. Custom dictated he couldn’t start a fight twice in a row, but the _waiting_ was miserable. It was almost enough to make him slip into her room and slit her throat in her sleep, just to liven things up. Doing that would certainly push her into action, but that would also mean the next time she managed to kill him it’d be twice as painful and twice as inconvenient when his body mended itself.

  
So he had to _wait_ until she made the first move. Oh sure, he could go find and torture _those three_ for a while, but it was without any challenge, not one of them could put up a fight like Paige. It was entertaining when he and Paige worked together to traumatize them, but her current mood made that unlikely. Anyway, none of them were in the house; they had escaped (again) a week ago. They’d be back soon; they always came back and cowered about the house for a while until he or Paige got especially bored.

  
The entire day went by without Paige making any appearances downstairs. Tony was beyond restless; she was doing this on purpose. Night fell, and she eventually stopped moving around in her room. He stood outside her bedroom, sword firmly gripped in his hand, wanting to just go provoke her or kill her or _anything_. But no, this was a test and, he couldn’t bring himself fail it. Fine. He’d play along, wait until she initiated the conflict, and from there he was free to kill her again, or be killed and after that get full control of the game. Tony begrudgingly went to bed, deciding that six hours of sleep would be enough.

  
Six hours later, exactly, he woke up. Clattering and music from downstairs made him scowl. She woke up before him.

  
Tony got dressed quickly, but not quickly enough to make him look any less than excellent. He glanced at his sword, deciding against it. Better to make her think he had no idea what she was planning. He headed downstairs to find Paige making coffee, dancing slightly to the unmelodic music she had playing. He stood in the doorway, regarding her silently.

 

“Good morning!” She called, throwing a grin at him from over her shoulder.

  
Something was clearly wrong.

  
Tony’s eyes moved across everything in the kitchen she could possibly use. Her options were near-endless. She could stab him with a steak knife. She could bash his skull in with a teakettle full of boiling water. She could gut him with a pair of kitchen shears. She could gouge his eyes out with a skewer.

  
Tony strolled over to the table and sat down.

  
“I have to say, I do appreciate you taking it easy on me. I was expecting to wake up somewhere so much worse.” Paige said, her back turned and her voice cheery.

  
“Yes, you’re very lucky that watching the life fade from your eyes is such a lovely sight.” He purred, toying absently with a sugar cube that had been left on the table.

  
Paige turned around, smiling softly, holding the cup she had been clearly tinkering with. She set the mug of jet-black coffee in front of him, and turned back around to face the counter. Silence hung between them as he looked down at the drink, and then back to her.

  
Tony picked up the coffee, refusing to take his eyes off her. Her head tilted towards him, smile growing and eyes widening, watching him lift the mug. He pressed the white ceramic to his lips.

  
He laughed, the sudden noise cutting through a lull in Paige’s music. The untasted coffee was set back down to the table with a click.

  
“Honestly my dear, did you think that would work in the slightest?”

  
Paige turned to face him fully, hands on her hips. “You’re no fun at all.” She pouted with a huff.

  
Tony rose, carrying the cup to the sink and dumping it out. “Will you tell me what was in there? I’d like to know how painful to make this for you.”

  
Paige didn’t respond.

  
“Oh, don’t be like that. You know that was a poor attempt.” Tony picked up a paring knife from the counter, eager to start now that Paige had made the first move.

  
He frowned.

  
His hand was numb. His entire chest was numb. His body trembled, and he fell to his knees, fumbling to grab the counter and support himself. The knife clattered noisily on the tile.

  
Paige sauntered towards him, grinning, giggling. Tony lost his grip on the counter, and collapsed face-first onto the cold floor.

  
“H-how the fffuck did y…” he slurred, before losing consciousness.

 

 

* * *

 

Tony’s awareness slowly flowed back. He knew hadn’t died.  It had been...47 minutes.  His head was pounding and his ears were ringing. A veil of dull numbness still covered him.

  
“Nuhhh…” He mumbled.

  
Someone responded. A high-pitched voice. Behind him. He tried to turn around and look at them. His body twisted sluggishly but his arms wouldn’t…move. The voice again. A tiny noise, like scratching or sandpaper being rubbed against wood. His head was too heavy to hold up. Something was moving on his back.

  
His back?

  
Tony pulled his head up and opened his eyes. They slowly focused, along with his state of mind. Something was tied around his wrists, holding them above his head, keeping him in a kneeling position. His head whipped around; he was in Paige’s room. That lumpy shape draped over a chair was his coat and undershirt. What the f-

  
“AaaU **GHHHH** ”

  
“Stop moving sweetie, I’ll mess up. And good morning again!” Paige chirped, as he felt something tear down his back, a line of hot blood following right behind it.

  
Tony panted, shaking at the sudden pain. “C-can I ask what you’re doing, dear?”

  
“Carving! I’ll take a picture when I’m done and show you when you wake up. It looks beautiful so far, but your skin keeps healing over, so I have to redo quite a lot.”

  
Another gash was pulled across his back, and Tony writhed away from it, snarling in pain.

  
“If you mess me up I’ll have to wait for everything to close up and start over again, you know.” She warned, tapping his bare shoulder with the pottery knife.

  
He grit his teeth. “Sorry love.” She dabbed blood away from her work with a damp sponge. “So where was it?”

  
“Hmm?”

  
“Where was the poison?”

  
“Oh the rim of the mug, silly. I just knew you’d try to trick me like that! The coffee was perfectly safe, actually.” He felt her ruffle his hair. Her hand was soaking wet with blood.

  
She ran the knife in bouncing curves over his back. Tony reared his head back, jaw clenched in pain, and stared up at his bound hands while she cut. He felt her hands brush gently, carefully, along the laceration. Suddenly she dug her fingers into the open wound, and pulled.

  
Tony screamed as he felt and _heard_ his skin tear off the muscle underneath, unable to keep from struggling away from her. Something snapped, and the pulling feeling stopped, being replaced immediately by an intense burn.

  
“A-ahh Paige my dear, it’s always something new with you.” He kept his head bent back, staring up.

  
The rope was loose.

  
She must’ve been too hasty to get him tied up before the poison wore off. Keeping her distracted shouldn’t be hard, she was already so very entertained with skinning him. But he couldn’t let her sense the glimmer of hope he had; she was very determined to keep the upper hand when she was in possession of it, and would not hesitate to gleefully tear his chances away from him.

  
So Tony let her carve his back up, keeping he eyes on the wall and his attention on his hands, nudging the rope around with tiny movements. Writhing convincingly wasn’t hard when someone was flaying you, he found.

  
After what seemed like an eternity of cutting and tearing, arching his back in pain, and trying to surreptitiously get his hands untied, there was finally progress. He could get his hands out of these ropes _right now_ , but…Paige had a knife in her hands. A single careless move and that knife’s new home would be ‘lodged firmly in his eyesocket’. He had to wait until she was in the perfect position.

No.

  
Enough waiting.

  
Tony pulled his aching arms down out of the bindings, and in one fluid motion drove his elbow back and into Paige’s face. It hit her square-on, a cracking sound signifying that he’d broken her nose.

  
Paige screeched in pain, falling back with a thump. He turned, still on his knees, planning to wrench the knife she had been using on him and gut her with it-

  
When he slipped in the blood that had pooled all over the floor.

  
Tony scrambled to get up from the slick floor, managing to turn over and back up a few feet; but it was too late. Paige pounced, pinning him to the floor and straddling his waist, knife still in hand. He tried unsuccessfully to shove her away as she grabbed his chin, forcing his head up.

  
Tony felt the blade slide smoothly across his throat, and the resulting rush of warm blood flowing over his skin.

  
He knew when to give up. He laid back as Paige leant down, resting the side of her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her while she listened to his heart slow and stop.  If he had the energy left to speak, he would’ve congratulated her .


End file.
